Deck: First Cut

There
is a lightness and freshness to Neil Dawson's new sculpture at Jonathan
Smart Gallery. Playing cards, so humble and everyday, have been given a
gentle sculptural tweak.

The
exhibition is called 'Deck: First Cut', a title that hints at further
possibilities. Dawson has taken six cards from different packs,
screenprinted onto stainless their detail front and back, powdercoated
the steel, then cut and rolled the works using their patterned backs as
his starting point. Patterns of wheel, filigree and diamond have been
immaculately reproduced on .7mm thin stainless, then flexed and opened
up. The sculptures have a playfulness on the floor, as if they've been
curled, dropped or placed casually, blown in by the latest breeze.

We
see six cards twice, each being an edition of 6. Hence their print-like
status, presented with genuine material ease at $4000 a cut. Now,
there's experience for you.

Selected works

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1. Ace of Diamonds

2. Four of Diamonds

3. The Joker

4. Ten of Spades

5. Twelve of Clubs

6. Two of Hearts

All works are from 2009made of screenprinted & powdercoated stainless steelin editions of 6approx. 400 x 600 x 150mm